SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND DEPRESSION AMONG HONG KONG OLDER ADULTS: THE MODERATING ROLE OF DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT

Abstract Depression is a significant public health issue among older adults. Active social participation is crucial for older people to promote mental well-being. Previous studies mainly focused on the impacts of offline social activities on older people’s mental health, despite that digital participation has substantially changed their patterns of social participation in the context of Covid-19 pandemic. Extending the use of Activity Theory to digital context, this study investigated how social participation in three types of activities (i.e., formal, informal and solitary activities) and digital engagement independently and jointly influenced mental health among Hong Kong older adults. Data from 5,007 participants were drawn from the baseline survey of the Panel Study of Active Ageing and Society, a biannual longitudinal survey conducted with a representative sample of ageing Chinese adults aged 50 years and above in Hong Kong. Exploratory factor analysis, ordinary least squares regression analysis and mediation analysis were conducted. The results showed that participation in informal and solitary activities was related to less depressive symptoms, while participation in formal activities was related to more depressive symptoms but higher life satisfaction. Although the main effect of digital engagement on depressive symptoms was not significant, more digital engagement reduced the negative effect of formal activities and decreased the effect of informal activities in reducing depressive symptoms. The findings have implications for policy-making and intervention development to encourage and balance social and digital participation among ageing populations.

The number of older adults identifying themselves as lonely has increased during the last two years as they have struggled with the impact of the pandemic on their perceptions of relationships with others.Recent research has shown that the negative health implications of loneliness are similar to those found with smoking or obesity.Most current interventions continue with past practice by adding people to engage with the older adult, although research suggests that while this intervention addresses social isolation, it does not address loneliness directly.Information regarding the development and implementation of a loneliness intervention with older adults based on the Health Beliefs Model in one rural mid-west county will be presented.Participants were recipients of home-delivered meals and had volunteered for a project that provided peer-to-peer instruction to improve digital literacy.In addition to technology training sessions, participants received a weekly contact from a separate volunteer as a friendly 'check-in.'Beginning in the fourth week, brief 5-10 minute coaching sessions about loneliness were included in these weekly contacts.The presentation will include details of the loneliness content, and describe training and support provided to the volunteers.Interviews were conducted with participants at baseline, approximately three months, and at the end of contact with each participant.Results showed no statistically significant change in loneliness, but participants reported they saw potential usefulness for the content with family and friends and potentially themselves in the future.They also provided helpful suggestions for revision.Plans for revision will be presented.

PEER-BASED CHECK-IN SUPPORT AND PERSONAL AGENCY IN TANGIBLE INTERFACE DESIGN FOR REDUCING ISOLATION IN OLDER ADULTS
Pallabi Bhowmick, and Lesa Huber, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana, United States About one in four older adults in the US are socially isolated, an issue worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.The aims of a 2-week diary study and field deployment of a peerbased tangible check-in system with 16 participants aged 65 to 87 were to understand how older adults check-in with others, who they check-in with, what difficulties they face, and how technology can help them stay connected.Findings show that perceived check-in behavior varies from actual check-in behavior.Although participants listed family as their strongest relationships forming the closest social circle, 75% of the participants had up to third-quarters of their communication with friends as compared to all other relationships.Secondly, passive check-in and monitoring from family members make older adults non-participatory recipients of care and takes away human agency.The check-in system allowed participants to actively check-in on their peers.Participants found the technology non-stigmatizing and bonded with each other quickly.Finally, older adults prefer tangible interfaces, such as buttons and physical controls over digital interfaces, because they do not require fine motor skills or visual acuity.Tangible systems can provide familiar, intuitive, and accessible systems by leveraging everyday physical objects as user interfaces.Study participants found the tangible check-in system easy and enjoyable to use.Such tangible peer-based systems improve social connectedness, address ageism by restoring agency, meet accessibility and aesthetic needs, thereby encouraging technology adoption.They also empower older adults to maintain their independence, instill in them a strong sense of community, and improve quality of life.

SINGLE-TIE CORE NETWORKS AMONG OLDER EUROPEANS: A POSITION OF PRECARITY AND LONELINESS?
Haosen Sun 1 , Jina Lee 2 , and Markus Schafer 3 , 1. UNR School of Public Health, Reno, Nevada, United States, 2. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 3. Baylor University, Waco, Texas, United States The problems of late-life social isolation and loneliness prompt significant concern.Individuals who have core personal networks limited to a single connection may be especially susceptible to loneliness, particularly when that connection is no longer available.The present research considers: 1) how prevalent such single-tie networks are and who is most likely to embed in them; 2) whether older adults in single-tie networks are more lonely than people with more expanded network forms; and 3) whether such networks put people at highest of loneliness in the event of network member loss.Using ego-centric network data from Waves 4 (2011) and Wave 6 (2015) of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we conduct lagged dependent variable logistic regressions.Results show that a total of 28.2% of older Europeans rely on a single person as an important personal tie.Among those maintaining a single-tie network, spouses are the most common choice (62.4%), followed by a child (15.2%), a relative (8.5%), and a non-relative (13.8%).Factors significantly associated with holding different types of single-tie networks include age, gender, education, financial pressure, rural residence, participation in social activities, and grandparental roles.Child-only networks are significantly associated with greater levels of loneliness compared to multi-tie networks.Meanwhile, the loss of a partner as the only connection is associated with significantly increased loneliness, even after considering possible network additions.Future research should investigate how to better protect older adults in precarious network settings, especially during network losses.

SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND DEPRESSION AMONG HONG KONG OLDER ADULTS: THE MODERATING ROLE OF DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT
Chang Liu, Xue Bai, and Chi-Ko Lee, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Depression is a significant public health issue among older adults.Active social participation is crucial for older people to promote mental well-being.Previous studies mainly focused on the impacts of offline social activities on older people's mental health, despite that digital participation has substantially changed their patterns of social participation in the context of Covid-19 pandemic.Extending the use of Activity Theory to digital context, this study investigated how social participation in three types of activities (i.e., formal, informal and solitary activities) and digital engagement independently and jointly influenced mental health among Hong Kong older adults.Data from 5,007 participants were drawn from the baseline survey of the Panel Study of Active Ageing and Society, a biannual longitudinal survey conducted with a representative sample of ageing Chinese adults aged 50 years and above in Hong Kong.Exploratory factor analysis, ordinary least squares regression analysis and mediation analysis were conducted.The results showed that participation in informal and solitary activities was related to less depressive symptoms, while participation in formal activities was related to more depressive symptoms but higher life satisfaction.Although the main effect of digital engagement on depressive symptoms was not significant, more digital engagement reduced the negative effect of formal activities and decreased the effect of informal activities in reducing depressive symptoms.The findings have implications for policy-making and intervention development to encourage and balance social and digital participation among ageing populations.

STABILITY AND CHANGE IN SOCIAL ISOLATION PROFILES OVER TIME AMONG OLDER ADULTS
Pildoo Sung 1 , and Angelique Chan 2 , 1. Hong Kong Baptist University,Hong Kong,Hong Kong,Singapore,Singapore This study examined transitions in social isolation profiles over time and factors associated with them, using longitudinal data from 1,305 older adults in Singapore.While prior studies have investigated social isolation profiles that combine objective measures of social disconnectedness and subjective feelings of loneliness, less is known about the stability and change in these profiles over time.We utilized random-intercept latent transition analysis to identify social isolation profiles and their transition patterns over time.Multivariable regression then examined whether health and sociodemographic characteristics were associated with specific transitions of interest.The empirical analyses yielded three key findings.First, at baseline, about 10% of older adults were "disconnected and lonely," while 30% were "disconnected but less lonely."The remaining respondents were "connected and less lonely."Second, at follow-up, 44% retained their baseline profiles, while 56% transitioned into different profiles.Third, older adults with lower socioeconomic status were more likely to transition from the "connected and less lonely" profiles to the disconnected and less lonely profile.Older adults with declining mental health were more likely to remain in or transition into the "disconnected and lonely" profile.In summary, approximately half of the older Singaporeans were socially disconnected, and one in five of them perceived loneliness occasionally or more often.Socioeconomically disadvantaged older adults were more likely to experience social disconnectedness over time, but this does not necessarily accompany loneliness.Rather, it is declining mental health that leads to both social isolation and loneliness, which calls for tailored interventions.

EFFECTS OF ENGAGEMENT IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BY INFORMAL CAREGIVERS ON THEIR QUALITY OF LIFE
Shamirah A'Azman 1 , Pildoo Sung 2 , and Rahul Malhotra 1 , 1. Singapore,Singapore,2. Hong Kong Baptist University,Hong Kong,Hong Kong Informal caregivers are more likely to have poorer health and wellbeing than non-caregivers.Studies have shown the health benefits of engagement in physical activity (PA) among caregivers.However, little is known about whether and how caregiver engagement in PA promotes or protects caregiver wellbeing.We examined (1) the association of caregiver engagement in PA with caregiver quality of life (QoL) and ( 2) the moderating effect of caregiver engagement in PA on the relationship between caregiving stressors and QoL.We used data on 278 care-recipient/caregiver dyads from the baseline interview of a longitudinal study of caregivers of older adults in Singapore.Multivariable regression first examined whether caregiver engagement in PA (assessed by number of days in a week with at least 30 minutes of PA, self-reported) was associated with physical, psychological, social, and environmental domains of QoL.Subsequently, interaction terms between caregiving stressors (care-recipient physical, memory, behavioral, and mood impairments) and caregiver engagement in PA were introduced and tested.We found that caregiver engagement in PA had a positive association with psychological, social, and environmental domains of QoL.Furthermore, caregiver engagement in PA mitigated the negative association between care-recipient mood impairment and caregiver QoL in the physical and social domains.Our findings suggest that QoL of informal caregivers of older adults may be improved or protected by their regular engagement in PA, especially if their care-recipients have mood impairments.Providers serving caregivers should encourage caregivers to engage in PA and equip them with the necessary support to do so.Family caregiving for individuals with dementia is associated with high levels of burden.Caregiver burden is likely contextual and related to sociocultural norms, including those for gender.We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine gender differences in caregiver burden among family caregivers of persons with dementia and to compare such gender differences across cultures.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CAREGIVER BURDEN AMONG FAMILY CAREGIVERS OF PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Thitinan Duangjina 1 , Thanakrit Jeamjitvibool 1 , Chang Park 1 , Rebecca Raszewski 2 , Valerie Gruss 1 , and Cynthia Fritschi 3 , 1. College of Nursing, the University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 2. The University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 3. UIC College of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois, United States